Herb. No. 186 · Parmeliaceae
Circumboreal clean-air woods. A pollution-sensitive beard, not a crop.
Native · Europe · North America
Usnea
Usnea spp.
Old-man’s beard — a traditional lichen gargle and skin wash, habitat-sensitive, not a wild-stripped tea.
Usnea is a fruticose lichen, a fungus living with algae, hanging in pale beards from unpolluted trees. The field ID is a white elastic cord in the split strand. Traditional use is as a short gargle and a cloth wash on closed skin — not a daily internal pot. It grows slowly. Old-growth beards are a conservation object. If you cannot split a strand and show the white cord, this plate is a photograph, not a harvest.
Flavor
Bitter, mushroom-wood, a little iodine. Not a pleasure cup.
Parts used
Thallus (the beard), fallen or purchased
Helpful
- A clear ID if you split the strand
- A small pinch goes a long way
Cautions
- Slow-growing
- Easy to over-harvest
- Not a daily tea
- Air pollution kills it